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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24668086">Just by Being There</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Tsar/pseuds/Star_Tsar'>Star_Tsar</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Conversation Piece [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Mother-Son Relationship, autistic Huey</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:28:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,180</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24668086</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Tsar/pseuds/Star_Tsar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Before she trapped herself on the moon, Della was really looking forward to a new movie. Now, twelve years later, she’s finally going to watch it! And with her four favorite kids in the world!</p>
<p>But getting them together isn’t so simple. They aren’t just kids, anymore. They’re almost teenagers, and with all the trouble that entails. Della wrestles with coming home and finally meeting her children just in time for them to start drifting away from her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Della Duck &amp; Dewey Duck, Della Duck &amp; Huey Duck, Della Duck &amp; Louie Duck, Della Duck &amp; Webby Vanderquack</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Conversation Piece [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1387921</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>91</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Just by Being There</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Darjeeling Limited, released October 26, 2007. Della re-read the only ticket she had ever bought in advance for a film. One that she would be looking forward to for over twelve years. Finally seeing the movie was relatively low priority on the list of things she promised herself she would do after she got home (just a few items beneath ‘meet her children for the first time’), but the day was here. Maybe she’d never get to see it in theaters, but Della had something better, three sons -- and even an extra daughter! </p>
<p>She just had to wrangle them up and sit them on the sofa.</p>
<p>Dewey was first -- not that he was a film buff or anything, but because he was the most adventurous of his siblings. Okay, it wasn’t really an adventure, sitting quietly with your mom for two hours and watching an old movie from the year you were born... but Dewey was certainly the most eager to please. And that wasn’t from a healthy place, of course. Dewdrop still struggled with thinking he had to earn his own mother’s love. </p>
<p>Della would help him get over that, though, no matter how long it took. He was a good boy. </p>
<p>Where was he?</p>
<p>“Don?” Della peeped her brother making a cucumber sandwich in the kitchen.</p>
<p>“Huh?” he licked miracle whip off his thumb.</p>
<p>“Have you seen Dewey?” she asked.</p>
<p>“He was with Webby in the den a couple minutes ago,” Donald wrapped his sandwich in a paper towel and turned to go.</p>
<p>Dewey was probably ‘hosting’ his little talk-show, with the same special guest he had on every night, Webby. Sure enough!</p>
<p>“Dewey!” Della stepped into the room and, pantomiming a guest, strode up waving at the imaginary audience to her son. Webby laughed, but Dewey just smiled. It looked like they were altering the set.</p>
<p>“What’s up, mom?” he asked.</p>
<p>“Do you want to watch a movie with me?” Della enthused. “It’s The Darjeel-”</p>
<p>“No,” Dewey answered, not even looking up from his props.</p>
<p>“Huh?” his mother was taken aback. At least he was honest.</p>
<p>“I have to get the set ready for the latest episode of my Dewcast, ‘Taking the Dew Pill’. My fans expect it to be released on time, and I’m behind schedule,” he explained in half-drawn breaths, fiddling with a microphone.</p>
<p>“How… uh, how many fans do you have?” Della didn’t know what to say. She started to wring her hands, but stopped for how it would have looked.</p>
<p>“There are three subscribers, but only two real ones,” Webby answered. “We found out one was Louie pretending to be a talent scout.”</p>
<p>“Oh, well, uh… Alrighty!” Della hid her disappointment. Who was she to come barging in making demands, anyway?  “Well, if you change your mind-”</p>
<p>“I won’t,” that boy had no filter. No malice behind it, but…</p>
<p>“You bet! Well, uh,” Della stuck her hands in her pockets, unthinkingly, just to pull them back out when she went in to hug her son before leaving.</p>
<p>“M-mom!” Dewey squirmed out of the embrace, sounding annoyed for the first time in the conversation. </p>
<p>What? Huh? </p>
<p>What was she doing wrong? Was it Webby? Was he embarrassed? She couldn’t linger on it, couldn’t let it hang in the air, that would only make it worse.</p>
<p>“Uh, hey, Webby?” Della looked over, quick as she could. “How about you? Do you want to watch a movie with me?”</p>
<p>“Oh? Yeah! Sure, just let me go to my room for a minute,” Webby answered and started for the door, cutting a weird look at Dewey as she went.</p>
<p>Della ruffled the feathers on Dewey’s head, no hard feelings, and left the room on Webby’s heels.</p>
<p>“Webby! Real quick: do you have any idea where Louie might be?”</p>
<p>“Um, he’s been in his room all day, I think,” Webby answered. ‘Room’ was a euphemism for ‘bed’ in that sentence.</p>
<p>“... Okay,” Della nodded and forced a little smile. She wanted to inquire further, naturally, but it wasn’t like this was a rare occurrence. Webby sounded a little anxious, anyway, which was many times more abnormal than Louie having a bad day. Not that one was more important than the other.</p>
<p>She wished she could call it something other than a ‘bad day’ when Louie got like this, and it made her feel awful to think she wasn’t taking it seriously enough, but what else could she do? They had, all of them, his brothers and uncles and Webby and Della herself, asked Louie to talk about it with them. He never did. They asked him if he would like to see a professional about it, but that got an even worse response. Even through the doom and gloom and dep-… she couldn’t call it depression, not only because she didn’t know if it was depression but because it broke her heart to think it could be. Anyway, even through the doom and gloom, Louie could still find it in him to be combative.</p>
<p>Della wanted so desperately to help Louie, but if she didn’t feel like she was underreacting, she felt like she was overreacting. It made her feel just as helpless as he must have. But Louie was her youngest baby, and she would be strong for him. He was a good boy, no matter what.</p>
<p>“Hey… Lou Lou…?” Della knocked and slowly opened the door.</p>
<p>No answer. But there he was, swathed in a cocoon of wrinkled sheets twisted around his little body.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>“You awake?” she whispered, leaning over and trying hard to smile.</p>
<p>“Ungh,” that was a yes. Now she had to say the magic words.</p>
<p>“Do you wanna talk about it?”</p>
<p>“No,” muttered from a beak half-formed into an ‘O’.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>“Okay, greenbean.” Della tried to kiss his forehead, but he pulled the sheets over his head and contorted away. </p>
<p>It hurt when he did this.</p>
<p>“I’m always here for you if you change your mind. So’s Uncle Donald, and Uncle Scrooge, and y-”</p>
<p>“Whatever, Della,” Louie pulled himself into the fetal position, which was his way of ending these ‘conversations’.</p>
<p>Della tried to think of anything she could say or do. Anything that would show him she cared. A reassuring touch would be rejected, and a kind word scoffed at. If she just walked away it would seem like she took it personally, and that would hurt his feelings, too; even if Louie acted like a jerk, he wasn’t one, and the last thing he needed was to feel like his mother’s love was conditional on his being polite to her.</p>
<p>“Okay,” was all she could think to say in time.</p>
<p>She left and quietly closed the door behind her.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>That left Huey, and Della knew exactly where he would be. Hard at work in the spare room Uncle Scrooge had shelled out to be made a study for him. It wasn’t entirely altruistic, though; Huey was putting in a lot of free labor down at Gyro’s lab. Scrooge painted the arrangement like he was doing Huey a favor by letting him work there, saying that the experience would help him get into CIT or whatever college he’d want to attend in the next few years.</p>
<p>Della wasn’t sure working would help Huey’s chances of getting into a school, but she knew very well Scrooge would keep his promise of getting him into whichever one her son wanted. She would make him keep it. The same way she made sure Gyro Gearloose, the queen bitch, would treat Huey like a prince every minute he was at the lab.</p>
<p>She knocked at the door.</p>
<p>“Come in,” Huey called from within. He would usually get up and open the door himself. She didn’t know why. “Hey, mom!”</p>
<p>“Hey, sweetie!” Della, for the first time in the last half-hour, smiled without having to force it. “Whatcha doin’?” It looked like Huey was pouring over some statistics and taking notes.</p>
<p>“Trying to make sense of these readouts from the lab’s synchrotron light source,” Huey explained, scribbling something in the margins.</p>
<p>“Uh huh?” Della had already gotten an earful or three about the work Huey was doing with synchrotron radiation. Once he got focused on something, it was hard to draw his attention elsewhere, especially an old movie.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, did you want something?” Huey set the papers down and turned to face her, making eye contact for a moment.</p>
<p>“I was just wondering if you wanted to watch a movie with me, but if you’re bus-”</p>
<p>“Sure!” Huey turned back and quickly arrayed his papers and pencils, then stood up.</p>
<p>“Are you sure you’re not too busy? If you’d rather work, I’d understand,” Della really didn’t want to push her luck, but she had to say it.</p>
<p>“I can do it later. You’re my mom,” Huey waddled up to her, smiling. He had no idea how happy he just made her.</p>
<p>“Aw, Huey!” Della hugged her baby as hard as she could. And he hugged back.</p>
<p>Huey and physical contact didn’t always mix, but it wasn’t like with his brothers. She never had to angle out a hug or kiss from Huey, to make sure he wouldn’t get embarrassed or his masculinity bruised. He wasn’t traipsing that teenage wasteland Dewey and Louie were, and it wasn’t because he was more mature or intelligent -- Huey simply didn’t operate according to the rules other people did. Della only had to worry if touching might overstimulate him on a particularly bad day, and even then, it was only the touch he rejected, not the affection.</p>
<p>Huey was autistic. He had been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder a couple years before Della came home, and if it had happened earlier they probably would have called it Asperger’s Syndrome. Too much sensory input could make him very uncomfortable, or even make him have a meltdown.</p>
<p>“I love you, mom,” Huey kissed her on the cheek.</p>
<p>“I love you, too,” she wanted to cry.</p>
<p>The moment lingered for a while, and Della worried if he might think it was weird, but quickly remembered Huey wasn’t so judgemental.</p>
<p>“Come on,” she pulled away and started walking with him toward the T.V. room.</p>
<p>“What movie are we watching?” He asked.</p>
<p>“The Darjeeling Limited. It was the last movie I wanted to see before… well, y’know, the moon and everything,” Della squeezed his shoulder, feeling glad.</p>
<p>“I’ve never seen it. It’s Wes Anderson, though, right?” Huey referred to the writer and director.</p>
<p>“Yeah! You like him?”</p>
<p>“The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is one of my favorites,” Huey grinned, excited to share something new with his mother.</p>
<p>Della gasped, “Ya know what? I first saw that one when I was gravid with you and your brothers’ eggs! So, really, you’ve seen it more times than you even know about!”</p>
<p>Huey laughed. Of all her sons, he was the most competent, and the only one definitely headed for success, and all this is what made it so ironic that Della worried about his future the most. She worried that he might not find anyone to love him, with whom he could share his life and be cared for, and not have his good nature taken advantage of. She worried he might get embittered by the way some people would treat him, and end up a lonely spectre who lashes out like Gyro. She worried about all the times she wouldn’t be there.</p>
<p>Della wanted to hug him again, but there would be plenty of time to cuddle while they were watching the movie.</p>
<p>They finally reached the T.V. room. Webby was sitting on the sofa, looking at her phone with drooping shoulders. It was hard to detect, but there was definitely a sullen quality to the normally bubbly girl.</p>
<p>“Hey, Huey? Could you go make some popcorn while I pull up the movie for us?” Della asked, not only to get a couple minutes alone with Webby but because she really wanted popcorn.</p>
<p>“Sure,” he said, and waddled off to the kitchen.</p>
<p>She stalled for a minute, standing there, just watching Webby. Della usually ended up acting like a big sister whenever she tried to give Webby some motherly love, but she was getting the hang of it.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Della sidled up and sat next to her. “What’s up?”</p>
<p>Webby looked at her for a minute with a vacant expression, then looked off like she was thinking. Weird. They let that sit for a minute and then, something unexpected. Webby lunged over and wrapped her arms around Della, hugging her.</p>
<p>Della hugged back, unsure if this was a good or bad indicator of how the duckling felt. But, when Webby pulled away with a smile, everything seemed fine.</p>
<p>“Everything’s fine,” Webby reassured, but Della didn’t know that was a fact.</p>
<p>Oh well. You shouldn’t push kids her age.</p>
<p>Huey returned with a bowl of popcorn just as Della was ready to push play.</p>
<p>“Are we ready?” she asked, eager.</p>
<p>“Yeah!” simultaneous commitals from her two kids present.</p>
<p>“Heck yeah!” Della pushed play.</p>
<p>The Darjeeling Limited.</p>
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